Early next month, the city's Historic Preservation Commission will hold a hearing on designating the 330,000-square-foot Showplace, at the intersection of the Potrero district and South of Market, a historic landmark.

Sounds good at first glance. Landmark = protection, right?

Not in this case. A historic designation in this industrial neighborhood means developers could turn the Showplace at 2 Henry Adams St., a showcase for interior design since the 1970s, into another home for tech offices.

The street is named after San Francisco developer Henry Adams, "the pied piper of design showrooms," who bought up a collection of buildings in what used to be a section of Kansas Street in the 1970s.

Adams died in 1981. His wife, Clarellen, died Jan. 12. Her family co-hosted a celebration of her life last week at the San Francisco Design Center.

"A landmark designation would clear the way for its conversion," real estate blog SocketSite noted when the proposal surfaced several months ago. "Great move by the owners," another commenter on the blog said. "Perhaps this will presage a wave of interest in historical preservation on the part of landlords." Especially in the same area.

How so? The building, which sold in 2006 for $125 million, is zoned for production, distribution and repair. A landmark designation opens the building to office development. As a result, existing tenants - home furnishings and textile firms that occupy about two-thirds of the design center - face the prospect of being priced out of the building they have long called home.

As SocketSite pointed out, an office development "flies in the face of a key objective of (the) Showplace Square/Potrero Hill Area Plan which seeks to preserve the supply of (production, distribution and repair) space within the district."

Should the Historic Preservation Commission recommend the designation at the hearing scheduled for March 5, the Board of Supervisors will ultimately make the final call.

Despite its initial approval, the commission "does have some questions about the change of use," said Timothy Frye, preservation coordinator at the commission. Frye said he's heard about fears from tenants about "displacement."

So has the office of Supervisor Malia Cohen, whose district encompasses the Showplace, especially about whether this could be tip of the iceberg, prompting owners of other buildings, including the Galleria and Garden Court, in the increasingly desirable "Eastern Neighborhoods" (Mission District, Central Waterfront, parts of South of Market and Showplace Square/Potrero Hill) to seek similar designation.

"Our office has heard indirectly concerns from tenants in the building about being priced out or their leases being terminated," said Cohen. She asked the Planning Department to prepare an analysis of how many buildings may be eligible for a historic designation in the Showplace Square area, "and how much potential office space it could generate so that the neighbors and the (commission) can have a fuller picture on what this designation may mean to the neighborhood."

A call to Martha Thompson, senior vice president at the San Francisco Design Center, to whom I was referred, was not returned on Friday. The owners of the property, San Francisco developers Bill Polandand Tim Treadwell, were out of town and unavailable, their office told me.

Meanwhile, the owners of the Showplace, Galleria and Garden Court petitioned the city's Assessment Appeals Board last week for reduced taxes, citing a "decline in value."

Cool it: Things getting a trifle frothy in tech-land? Local members of the 0.1 percent seem to think so.

A majority (60 percent) of San Francisco high-net-worth investors say the Bay Area "is investing more into technology than the asset is worth," according to a survey from Morgan Stanley.

Not that we're necessarily talking bubble, although a significant minority, 43 percent, think the area is heading for a downturn.

Still, the very wealthy remain generally bullish on tech, including biotech, though not so much on communications (49 percent). They still like tech startups and are willing to wait three to five years for a "sizable return."

For investors in the 4-year-old startup called WhatsApp, patience has definitely proved to be a virtue.

On the other hand, the investors polled by Morgan Stanley don't care for retail or other "consumer discretionary" sectors, aerospace, tourism or financial services. They're not interested in bonds of any kind, but they like stocks (presumably, that market will continue to boom), real estate investment trusts and indexed funds.

Not too many joiners of Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge club (billionaires giving away at least 50 percent of their wealth to philanthropic causes), according to the Morgan Stanley poll. The majority of those surveyed will be directing their wealth elsewhere, primarily to their children.

They also expect to be the beneficiaries of asset transfers themselves, again mainly from families.